This Tuesday Dutch anti-piracy outfit BREIN took The Pirate Bay's co-founders and spokesman to court in The Netherlands, aiming to close the site down to Dutch visitors. Now, three days later the three are striking back, suing the head of BREIN for defamation in Sweden and asking the Dutch court to impose damages against the outfit.

In an Amsterdam court this week, BREIN’s lawyer argued that The Pirate Bay is responsible for millions of copyright infringements every day, and that the site should therefore be blocked to visitors from The Netherlands.

Interestingly, the news came as a total surprise to Fredrik, Gottfrid and Peter who say they received no official summons and were not aware of the case until they were notified by a journalist – after it was heard in court. In a counter move, the three have today sent a letter to the Amsterdam court, asking it to dismiss the case and impose damages against BREIN.

“We would like the Dutch court to […] make sure that these power hungry corporations and organizations can not abuse their power and financial muscles against private people that criticize the way these companies behave towards the public. It is not acceptable behavior and we urge the court to put an end to their madness,” they write in a letter to the Amsterdam court.

In addition, Tim Kuik, the head of BREIN is now being sued by the three in Sweden for slander, libel and defamation, after Kuik claimed that the Pirate Bay founders were responsible for an alleged DDoS attack on BREIN’s website. In Sweden, Kuik is now facing up to two years in prison, high damages and fines.

“I am sure there will be no other outcome for this except that Mr. Kuik will have to make an apology and also pay fines for his crimes,” Pirate Bay spokesman Peter Sunde said in a comment.

In their letter Peter Sunde, Gottfrid Svartholm and Fredrik Neij explain in detail why they think the case should be dismissed. “We’re very certain the court will have to throw the case out the window,” Gottfrid Svartholm said.

Fredrik Neij added: “None of us live in The Netherlands, operate from there or even own the site they are suing over. There are so many errors in this lawsuit that it’s almost a crime to spend the court’s time this way!”

Indeed, apart from the fact that the three were summoned through Twitter and Facebook where they get hundreds of messages a day, none of them is actually the owner of the site itself. “The owners are a company called RESERVELLA, not anyone of those mentioned in the lawsuit,” they informed the court.

The Pirate Bay founders and spokesman will now await the response from the Amsterdam court, and BREIN frontman Tim Kuik can look forward to a letter from the Swedish court inviting him to make a trip to the home of The Pirate Bay.

If the Dutch court decides to award damages to The Pirate Bay, they founders say they want the money to go to the Dutch Pirate Party. “Since the need of this organization is made obvious by a case like this,” they informed the Court.